I am going to start writing strategy guides for each of the BANG! characters. I will first examine only the original game characters with the original game cards. Strategy Guides will include general card information (name, life points, ability information), and then I will also note what "activates" their ability, cards they can use that are enhanced/diminished by their ability, and cards that are used against them that are more/less powerful because of their ability. I also note how good they are once there are 2 players living, share a general strategy of how to use the character, how to play against this character, and what roles they are particularly good at. If applicable, I also note which characters they counter well, or characters that counter them. Initially, these strategy guides will be a little sketchy; not the most graphically pleasing. I hope also that people will comment and add to the guides or suggest areas where they may be incorrect.
Go to the BANG! Character Guide Portal.
Menu Bar
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Strategy: Possible for Outlaw to Openly Team Up with Sheriff?
While it seems incredibly unlikely, I was curious if it is possible for the Outlaw to openly solicit the help of the Sheriff. When would this happen? Perhaps when there are only 3 roles left: Outlaw, Sheriff, Renegade. The Renegade has full health and the Sheriff/Outlaw are down to 3/2 health. The Outlaw knows he could be teamed up on for the 3 card bonus. But perhaps he could convince the Sheriff that the Renegade is enough of a threat that he ought to help him lower the Renegade's health first. After all, no Beer works once there are only 2 players left. The issue is that it is not clear why once the Renegade's health was down that the Sheriff would not return to gunning the Outlaw (3 card bonus). And then the Outlaw would be wasting his ammo on the Renegade. So I don't think this would work. It could work as a 1 time juke move--convince the Sheriff to gang up, let the Sheriff take a turn against the Renegade and then turn on the Sheriff right away. That way you get 1 turn without the Sheriff gunning at you. Of course, don't expect it to work again. Can anyone else think of a situation where an Outlaw might team up with a Sheriff?
Monday, December 27, 2010
BANG! Crossplatform Video Game Now Available for $2-$6 depending on Platform
The new BANG! video game by Palzoun is now available for purchase: $6 for PC, $2 for Iphone/Ipod Touch, $3 for Ipad HD, and $5 for the Atom notebook. So far, it is available on the following platforms: PC, Ipod/Itouch, and the Samsung Bada. It is a pretty reasonable price for BANG!, so you might buy right now before any sale. A blog entry from Palzoun informs us that the multiplayer function of BANG! will not be available until January. Thus, current purchases will provide single player functionality solely.
If I find any reviews, I will be sure to post and comment on them. In the mean time, check out the cheesy live action trailer below:
There is also a Facebook album showing decent screenshots of the BANG! video game.
If I find any reviews, I will be sure to post and comment on them. In the mean time, check out the cheesy live action trailer below:
There is also a Facebook album showing decent screenshots of the BANG! video game.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Alternate Gameplay: Order of Scenario Cards Known at the Beginning of the Game
For those who did not read my statement of purpose post, I mentioned an interesting gameplay variant with the scenario cards that I think is worth considering. I wrote:
This might be worth trying out if you are frustrated by the randomness of these decks too.
Many of my friends and I do not enjoy the randomness of the global effect or "scenario" cards played at the beginning of each round in High Noon and a Fistful of Cards (Wild West Show cards are similar, but these scenarios do not occur at the beginning of a round for a round, but rather begin and end when certain cards are played). However, we still enjoy the idea of these scenario cards. Our solution is to pick the deck(s) we wish to play with at the beginning, shuffle this deck, and flip these cards over in a sequential order (with High Noon and Fistful of Cards being last in this order). At the beginning of the second round, the effects start to occur each round in this sequential order. When a card is used up, it is flipped face down to indicate that it has ended. This way players can prepare for future rounds, and yet still have variety added to BANG! with these cards.
This might be worth trying out if you are frustrated by the randomness of these decks too.
Alternate Gameplay: Varying Agendas for Renegade
Over at Board Game Geek, there was a post discussing how a Renegade could have a random goal assigned to him at the beginning of each game for him to accomplish. The brain child behind this idea described it thus:
He specified also that the Renegade is not the person who rolled the die; it declares the objective for the Renegade and everyone knows that that is the Renegade's goal.
Some general comments: Why bring a dice role into the game? Just "draw!" and use the playing card values in the bottom left corner to determine his role, or the suits. Scraps the need for dice. Second, I don't think the alternate agenda will work for 2-3 player games; I would say it only counts for 4+. And how about these alternate agendas? I think we can universally agree that (3) is stupid. Be the first player to die? It is dumb for the game to end so soon if he does die, and since it is so easy to avoid (3) being the outcome, does the Renegade automatically lose if (3) is not accomplished? I would scrap it. In fact, many of these might have that problem. As a murderer, I have lost if other players have killed others over X (whatever my specified amount is); what is my incentive to keep playing? It might be helpful if I had 2 victory conditions instead (normal renegade conditions OR being a murderer), that way if the 1 condition becomes eliminated the Renegade can change to achieve the regular victory condition. The fact that he can always default back on this helps him serve as the buffer for the Sheriff like he should.
(4) is a little fascinating, but it will be brutal to accomplish this when all the other players know that that is the Renegade's goal. This probably should scale with different amounts of players, as chances of getting beer in 7-player are not high. You can imagine that in General Stores everyone will be grabbing to keep away the beer from the Renegade. On the flip side, he has a high chance of collecting beer when he plays the General Store. The game will probably last longer, giving him more time to collect on beers. I know I would be brutal on whoever collected the beer on a General Store. I would simply make that person my target, shooting at them until they used the Beer. Since I haven't play tested it, it may also be too easy of a win. It could be made much more difficult if he had to get the Beer, Whiskey, and Tequila cards.
(5) is interesting, but simply specifying 3 is not going to work. I would rather call this alternate condition "Headhunter" and say he has to personally eliminate a certain number of players depending on how many there are:
4-5 player: Kill 2 other players.
6-8 player: Kill 3 other players. You might put 4 for 8-player, but with too many other bullets whizzing around, I doubt he could do it.
It might be more interesting if the Renegade's alternative victory condition was not public. His alternative victory condition could be determined by the first card that he draws for the game: use its suit/value to specify that condition. Then part of the intrigue of the game could be discovering what that other condition is by seeing how he behaves. I would simplify the alternate conditions by having the first card draw's value determinations be:
2-7: Normal Renegade
8-10: Bootlegger (However best to determine this alternate role) + Normal Victory Condition
J-A: Headhunter + Normal Victory Condition.
I made 2-7 Normal because the higher value cards are more common in BANG, so a greater range had to be used to offset that. I think it is fun that you can be a Normal Renegade and yet have to convince other players that you do not have another conditions for winning. Or have 1 condition, and convince them that you have another. Anyway, I think this idea still needs a lot of work, but it has some potential.
The only thing that makes me laugh is that the Renegade is an interesting role already... this only increases his fun. What can we do with the Deputy to make him more interesting, and not have his role be revealed?
At the start of the game a die is rolled to determine the objective of the renegade.
1 and 2-Normal renagade objective
3-be the first player to die if not roll for a new objective
4-bootlegger: try and get 3 beer cards in your hand
5-murderer: kill 3 players
6-Normal Renagade.
He specified also that the Renegade is not the person who rolled the die; it declares the objective for the Renegade and everyone knows that that is the Renegade's goal.
Some general comments: Why bring a dice role into the game? Just "draw!" and use the playing card values in the bottom left corner to determine his role, or the suits. Scraps the need for dice. Second, I don't think the alternate agenda will work for 2-3 player games; I would say it only counts for 4+. And how about these alternate agendas? I think we can universally agree that (3) is stupid. Be the first player to die? It is dumb for the game to end so soon if he does die, and since it is so easy to avoid (3) being the outcome, does the Renegade automatically lose if (3) is not accomplished? I would scrap it. In fact, many of these might have that problem. As a murderer, I have lost if other players have killed others over X (whatever my specified amount is); what is my incentive to keep playing? It might be helpful if I had 2 victory conditions instead (normal renegade conditions OR being a murderer), that way if the 1 condition becomes eliminated the Renegade can change to achieve the regular victory condition. The fact that he can always default back on this helps him serve as the buffer for the Sheriff like he should.
(4) is a little fascinating, but it will be brutal to accomplish this when all the other players know that that is the Renegade's goal. This probably should scale with different amounts of players, as chances of getting beer in 7-player are not high. You can imagine that in General Stores everyone will be grabbing to keep away the beer from the Renegade. On the flip side, he has a high chance of collecting beer when he plays the General Store. The game will probably last longer, giving him more time to collect on beers. I know I would be brutal on whoever collected the beer on a General Store. I would simply make that person my target, shooting at them until they used the Beer. Since I haven't play tested it, it may also be too easy of a win. It could be made much more difficult if he had to get the Beer, Whiskey, and Tequila cards.
(5) is interesting, but simply specifying 3 is not going to work. I would rather call this alternate condition "Headhunter" and say he has to personally eliminate a certain number of players depending on how many there are:
4-5 player: Kill 2 other players.
6-8 player: Kill 3 other players. You might put 4 for 8-player, but with too many other bullets whizzing around, I doubt he could do it.
It might be more interesting if the Renegade's alternative victory condition was not public. His alternative victory condition could be determined by the first card that he draws for the game: use its suit/value to specify that condition. Then part of the intrigue of the game could be discovering what that other condition is by seeing how he behaves. I would simplify the alternate conditions by having the first card draw's value determinations be:
2-7: Normal Renegade
8-10: Bootlegger (However best to determine this alternate role) + Normal Victory Condition
J-A: Headhunter + Normal Victory Condition.
I made 2-7 Normal because the higher value cards are more common in BANG, so a greater range had to be used to offset that. I think it is fun that you can be a Normal Renegade and yet have to convince other players that you do not have another conditions for winning. Or have 1 condition, and convince them that you have another. Anyway, I think this idea still needs a lot of work, but it has some potential.
The only thing that makes me laugh is that the Renegade is an interesting role already... this only increases his fun. What can we do with the Deputy to make him more interesting, and not have his role be revealed?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Strategy: Playing against Gary Looter
When playing against Gary Looter, it is important to discard as many cards as you can to get under your limit. One often overlooked rule to help you out with this is your ability to use Beer even when you are at full health. Although it doesn't add anything to your health, it keeps you from giving a Beer to Gary Looter! Here is what the BANG FAQ says:
Good thing to know. On the flipside, if you are on Gary Looter's team, you can support Gary Looter fantastically by discarding cards that will help him when you are over your limit. So discard a Beer for Gary Looter to draw the card so he can regain health. The Sheriff-Deputy combo here is ridiculously OP.
Q16. Can I play a Beer if I am at full life points?
A. Yes: the Beer will simply have no effect at all.
Good thing to know. On the flipside, if you are on Gary Looter's team, you can support Gary Looter fantastically by discarding cards that will help him when you are over your limit. So discard a Beer for Gary Looter to draw the card so he can regain health. The Sheriff-Deputy combo here is ridiculously OP.
Strategy: Outlaw Suicide through Duels
Sometimes as an Outlaw, it is best to try to cash out and try to get the card bonus to your team mates. One great way to do this is to Duel another outlaw who has a BANG!. Initiate the duel against them, let them fire the BANG! back and then don't play any other cards. Take the hit, die, and give the card bonus to your team mate. I found this to be extremely helpful in a game when Bone Orchard made two Outlaws come back to life with 1 health each. Since there were no other roles dead, every other player knew we were outlaws and that there would be a card bonus for killing us again. So I dueled my fellow outlaw and let him kill me so that one of us might survive.
NOTE: Now that I have read the official BANG FAQ, I am not sure if this strategy is legal anymore. Read Question 23:
While this clears things up, it is still confusing. The card responsible for eliminating the Outlaw is not the duel, but the BANG! card that another player used to respond to the duel. After all, the other player did not have to play the BANG! If so, how was the Duel responsible for the death? It provided the opportunity, but that does not mean it was responsible for my death. I dispute this reading, and think it can be played either way (house rule at least). It does open up a new interesting strategy. You can duel anyone when you are at your last rope, not respond, and no one gets the card bonus. Thus, a duel suicide is still useful; you just can't help your buddy under the official rules. Though it may not be a rule, just a FAQ, as I think you can read it either way. Under their reading, Dynamite explosions should give you card bonuses too, as the player laid the card that was responsible for the elimination.
NOTE: Now that I have read the official BANG FAQ, I am not sure if this strategy is legal anymore. Read Question 23:
Q23. If an Outlaw plays a Duel and loses, does the player who won the Duel draw the 3 cards reward?
A. No. The reward goes to the player who played the card which was responsible of the elimination of the Outlaw. But since that card was played by the Outlaw himself, no one can gain the reward.
While this clears things up, it is still confusing. The card responsible for eliminating the Outlaw is not the duel, but the BANG! card that another player used to respond to the duel. After all, the other player did not have to play the BANG! If so, how was the Duel responsible for the death? It provided the opportunity, but that does not mean it was responsible for my death. I dispute this reading, and think it can be played either way (house rule at least). It does open up a new interesting strategy. You can duel anyone when you are at your last rope, not respond, and no one gets the card bonus. Thus, a duel suicide is still useful; you just can't help your buddy under the official rules. Though it may not be a rule, just a FAQ, as I think you can read it either way. Under their reading, Dynamite explosions should give you card bonuses too, as the player laid the card that was responsible for the elimination.
Production: Playing Card Stock
When you are making your own custom cards for BANG! it is important to consider the card stock you are printing on. You want your cards to general fit in with the original game cards and you want them to be durable, work well for shuffling, and be able to handle a good print job (the ink sticks to them and the paper doesn't jam). You can of course get your cards professionally made through a service. But most of us don't have that kind of money to throw down. As far as I can tell, the only real option is to print them yourself unless you have some buddy. Card stocks for printing that you can grab from Michael's, Office Depot/Office Max, Staples, and Hobby Lobby really don't do the trick. I visited all my local stores and was unimpressed. Even copy stores like Kinko's don't have that heavy of stocks for printing. I turned to looking online. You can probably purchase heavy stock yourself and make your own custom guides to cut them with. I went with playing cards from PlainCards.com, and bought their kit.
Their small kit comes with 18 sheets of playing cards, with 8 cards a sheet (144 total), and also a can of playing card coating, 2 plastic card boxes, and an edger. It cost $20.50+ shipping. A little pricey, but not terrible. Each of the card sheets is microperforated for where the cards are to be printed. So you can print the cards on a template to match the sheets. After the printing, the cards can be spray coated and then popped out. Edge the corners, and then you're done. Well, if only it was that simple. That would work in some games, but not BANG!. There are some complications with the PlainCards.com card sheets. For one, you can't get microperforated cards that are the same size as BANG! cards (the two available options are 2 3/8" x 3 1/2" or 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). So this requires card trimming and corner rounding, as I have discussed in previous posts. It also makes you have to be real careful with resizing the card template you make for the cards, so that the graphics are centered after the trimming. Second, you have to use an inkjet printer to print on these sheets. I tried doing a laser printer at Kinko's, and while half came through, the other half jammed, smeared, or what-have-you-that-could-be-bad. Wasting card stock is a bad idea when it is pricey too. I was able to calibrate a home printer to do a great job, but remember that the ink adds a new cost. Kinko's would have been cheaper. Overall, the PlainCards.com card stock is really nice, and the coating is good to get. It just takes a lot of extra work to get the cards to be the right size and shape. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any easier options.
I read on some forum that EAI Education has some decent playing cards. Their cards are better sized at 2 1/4" x 3 1/2", but they will still require some trimming if they are to match the BANG! cards and get into card sleeves. They are also a cheaper option at $1.65 for 50 blank playing cards. However, there are some downsides. The EAI Education site requires you to spend $15.00 for an order, so you may have to purchase 500 cards from them to get a good rate. Of course, you may find some other items on there that you would like to purchase to offset this. Second, the cards do not come in sheets, but are precut. While this saves you the headache of punching out, it makes printing more difficult. One, your inkjet printer probably does not have two manual guides to keep the playing cards from slipping around. You may be able to tape it to something to keep it in place, but this clearly removes much of the benefit of having them precut. Second, from the image on their website, it isn't clear that the cards are meant to be printed on. Markers are shown all over them. This makes me wonder how well ink will stick to the cards, and what kind of finish they will have. I haven't yet bought these cards, but I may try them out. I just have my concerns. If anyone has tried these or other cards out for printing let me know. It might be best to just buy really good, heavy card stock on line and make your own from scratch. It will take time to make the goods and cut them out, but when you have to trim the other cards down anyway, is it really that big a deal? You will probably save money in the long run.
Their small kit comes with 18 sheets of playing cards, with 8 cards a sheet (144 total), and also a can of playing card coating, 2 plastic card boxes, and an edger. It cost $20.50+ shipping. A little pricey, but not terrible. Each of the card sheets is microperforated for where the cards are to be printed. So you can print the cards on a template to match the sheets. After the printing, the cards can be spray coated and then popped out. Edge the corners, and then you're done. Well, if only it was that simple. That would work in some games, but not BANG!. There are some complications with the PlainCards.com card sheets. For one, you can't get microperforated cards that are the same size as BANG! cards (the two available options are 2 3/8" x 3 1/2" or 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). So this requires card trimming and corner rounding, as I have discussed in previous posts. It also makes you have to be real careful with resizing the card template you make for the cards, so that the graphics are centered after the trimming. Second, you have to use an inkjet printer to print on these sheets. I tried doing a laser printer at Kinko's, and while half came through, the other half jammed, smeared, or what-have-you-that-could-be-bad. Wasting card stock is a bad idea when it is pricey too. I was able to calibrate a home printer to do a great job, but remember that the ink adds a new cost. Kinko's would have been cheaper. Overall, the PlainCards.com card stock is really nice, and the coating is good to get. It just takes a lot of extra work to get the cards to be the right size and shape. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any easier options.
I read on some forum that EAI Education has some decent playing cards. Their cards are better sized at 2 1/4" x 3 1/2", but they will still require some trimming if they are to match the BANG! cards and get into card sleeves. They are also a cheaper option at $1.65 for 50 blank playing cards. However, there are some downsides. The EAI Education site requires you to spend $15.00 for an order, so you may have to purchase 500 cards from them to get a good rate. Of course, you may find some other items on there that you would like to purchase to offset this. Second, the cards do not come in sheets, but are precut. While this saves you the headache of punching out, it makes printing more difficult. One, your inkjet printer probably does not have two manual guides to keep the playing cards from slipping around. You may be able to tape it to something to keep it in place, but this clearly removes much of the benefit of having them precut. Second, from the image on their website, it isn't clear that the cards are meant to be printed on. Markers are shown all over them. This makes me wonder how well ink will stick to the cards, and what kind of finish they will have. I haven't yet bought these cards, but I may try them out. I just have my concerns. If anyone has tried these or other cards out for printing let me know. It might be best to just buy really good, heavy card stock on line and make your own from scratch. It will take time to make the goods and cut them out, but when you have to trim the other cards down anyway, is it really that big a deal? You will probably save money in the long run.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)